“Add a match referee too”-Basit Ali slams PCB after inclusion of umpire Aleem Dar in selection panel

Aleem Dar was added to PCB selection committee with Aaqib Javed and Azhar Ali.

Basit Ali, the ex-Pakistan cricketer, has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for making a mockery of the national selection panel. This comes after former umpire Aleem Dar was included in the revamped selection panel, along with Aaqib Javed and Azhar Ali, who joined Hasan Cheema and Asad Shafiq.

This decision came 10 days after Mohammad Yousuf resigned from the panel. The appointments mark the most recent "recomposition" of the ever-changing selection committee, which has been modified numerous times this year and will no longer include coaches in the squad selection process.

While Asad Shafiq and Cheema were previously members of the selection committee, Cheema has been given voting rights.

Basit Ali questioned the decision to appoint Dar, highlighting that the role is typically reserved for former players and coaches. He suggested adding a match referee and media representative to the panel if an umpire could be included.

"This is an absolutely surprising decision. It is surprising to me that Aleem Dar has been added to the selection committee. He was a great umpire and was a very good human, but he didn't deserve to be there. Not now, but in the coming days, voices will be raised. If you have kept an umpire in the selection committee, then please add a match referee too along with one person from the media,” Ali said on his YouTube channel.

Aleem Dar holds the record for officiating the most international matches (448) and retired from officiating after the PCB Champions one-day Cup.

The new selection panel will pick the Pakistan squad for the Australia white-ball tour.